The Marriage Syndrome
by ShallISayMore
Summary: Annabeth always seemed to think that her new guy was "the one." Percy always had to be the one to pick the pieces. Well until there weren't any to pick up. In which best friends are the boyfriends. One-shot.


**It's been a while! This is my next story and I literally just finished it, so if there are a few errors I apologize! Let me know what you think!**

She was crying. Annabeth had been dumped yet again. She had sworn that this one was the one. He was so nice and sweet when they were together she could have sworn he wanted to be with her forever, well until he didn't. That bomb had been dropped about three hours ago and she was still in hysterics.

Percy had come over about an hour ago, but there wasn't much he could do. Annabeth had what he called "the marriage syndrome" since sophomore year of high school. They were now seniors. Whenever she would get close to someone Annabeth seemed to think that they were perfect, and of course the person that she was supposed to marry.

So he sat there. Being the best friend it was his job to let her cry into his shoulder and tell her how she could do so much better than Luke, and John, and Chris, and of course Tommy. He actually had hated Tommy. She let him walk all over her because she swore to God he loved her and didn't want to hurt her. He stopped asking about the hand shaped bruises on her arms after a few months. Tommy was the first one to break her heart, and Percy swore if he ever saw him near her again he would kill him. He never came around

"You'd think that after four heartbreaks I'd take this better," Annabeth said looking up at him through watery eyes. He hated seeing her like this, however, there wasn't much he could do.

"You'd think," he said with a smirk. She gave him an incredulous look and he laughed. "I'm just kidding Wise Girl," he said pulling her close to him. "I know this sucks. It hurts when you think someone loves you and they don't." Percy held her a little closer and bent down to kiss the top of her head.

"Perce, no offense but how would you know? You've never even had a crush on a girl," Annabeth said without looking up. Percy would have sworn she held him a little tighter. There was, however, a little problem with her statement. Percy has had a crush on a girl; a very specific girl. That girl just happened to have started a new bout of sobbing against his chest.

Percy had been in love with Annabeth for as long as he could remember. It started in junior high, but then she was gorgeous. She had perfect blonde curls, a think athletic frame, and God was she smart. He could have sworn she was the smarted person ever born, but then she would go into a rant about IQs that he didn't think that he could ever hear again. In junior high he thought that she was just too good for him, and honestly everyone else agreed.

Once they both got to high school Annabeth's beauty attracted the attention of other boys. He was still awkward, but that didn't stop him from scaring some of them off. Freshman year he did pretty well keeping the boys away, well until Tommy. He really hated Tommy. Sophomore year Percy filled out. He was no longer awkward. He had grown to be about six feet tall and was built like a tank. By this time though the guys that were chasing Annabeth were either way too persistent to be scared off, or they knew Percy and knew that he wouldn't hurt a fly.

That was how it had carried on up until now. Percy would let her cry into his shoulder and she always knew that he was going to be there for her. He was ok with too. Annabeth mattered to him, and if that was what she needed he was going to be there for her no matter how many times she fell in love with someone that wasn't him.

"Do you think I'm ever going to pick the right one?" Annabeth asked breaking him out of her thoughts.

"Anna you are eighteen. I don't think that have run out of time just yet," he said with a laugh. He was relieved to hear her give him a slight laugh too.

"Thank you," she said pulling away from him. "You are always here when I need you, and that must suck because I cry way too often. It really isn't your job to clean up the mess I made."

Percy stopped to look at her to see if she was serious. Realizing she was he grabbed her chin and made her look at him. When she wouldn't make eye contact he said, "hey, look at me. I don't care what time it is, or what happened. I'll be here for you no matter how silly the problem is." By the end of his little speech Annabeth was in tears again. It wasn't original goal, but it got her to hug him again, so he guessed it was worth it.

"Thanks Perce. You're the best," Annabeth cried herself to sleep soon after that. Percy couldn't bring himself to leave.

When Annabeth woke up the next morning she felt really warm. It wasn't long before she realized that Percy was quietly snoring next to her. Neither of them had made it under the covers last night, but it didn't see, like either of them were cold. Body heat was the best way to keep warm anyway.

She looked over at him and smiled. Percy always looked so calm when he slept. It was comforting to see someone that she knew cared about her without any reason to do so. Percy had been her best friend for as long as Annabeth could remember, and honestly he had always been more than that. He was her biggest fan, her support system, her blanket, and her love. There was nothing that she wouldn't do for him.

Honestly Percy never having a crush was a huge relief to Annabeth. She wasn't sure how she would be able to handle it if he ever found someone that he loved more than her, and she didn't mean that in a selfish way. She meant it in a way that she had never loved anyone more than him, and honestly she didn't know if she ever would. He was her world, and Annabeth didn't know if she would be able to handle losing him to a girl that she barely knew.

Every guy that she had dated didn't seem to come close to Percy. Annabeth would seem to start comparing them to him and then she would call them out on things that they did that she knew Percy would never do to her. They couldn't answer her text in three hours? Percy would have answered within thirty minutes. The only problem was that started fights, and then they were done with her before she even had time to adjust. Thus the crying. She always thought that they could move past any of the issues that they had, but that never seemed to be the case.

Annabeth sat there listening to Percy snore for a while longer. She knew that he would wake up by ten just like he always did. It was Saturday anyway, it didn't really matter when they woke up. Finally around 9:15 Percy came too. He grunted as he stretched making sure that his displeasure was unknown. Annabeth smiled and rolled her eyes. He had always been so overdramatic.

"Feeling better Wise Girl?" he asked her before he even opened her eyes. He knew that she was awake. She had woken up before him since they were kids.

"Kinda. I hate dating, and boys, and boys that I'm dating," she said with a sigh.

"Ya, we both know that isn't true. I'm sure that you will have a new boyfriend in the near future that you can fall madly in love with again. Trust me it always seems to work out," he said rolling over to face her. There was so much truth in his statement it hurt both of them.

"Perce, I don't know about this time. I think I should wait a little bit to see what's out there instead of just jumping into another heartbreak. I don't want to feel like this anymore," she said closing her eyes. She knew that unless she found someone as good as Percy was she wasn't going to be happy. It had taken her a long time to figure it out, but at least she knew know. There was no reason to mess around with her feelings if she knew that she wasn't going to be happy.

"You think so?" he asked her. Percy had never heard her say anything like that before. They were inseparable, practically had been since birth, but that was something that was new to him. Annabeth was one of the smartest people he knew, but when it came to dating she was probably one of the stupidest. She didn't really think out anything that she did.

It had been three months since Annabeth had her last break-up and Percy had to say that he was impressed. It wasn't that there hadn't been guys that had tried because there had been. Annabeth just seemed to not be interested in dating right then. She would tell them that she just wasn't ready and they all seemed to respect that. No one really knew why or how, including Percy, but it seemed that most people thought it was good for her. She seemed happier.

Percy wasn't one that was much for parties. He always thought that they were too loud and crowded for him to have any fun. That statement, however, did not stand for Annabeth. She loved to go out on Fridays and have a little too much fun. When she first started going sophomore year Percy would go with her just to keep an eye on her, but she knew how much he hated them so she stopped asking him to go. She was pretty good at taking care of herself, now that's not saying that there haven't been a few times that Percy hadn't had to go grab her drunk ass from some random house a few town over, but for the most part she was pretty good.

That was how Percy ended up spending his Friday night alone. Annabeth had been invited to a party on the other side of town and Percy had turned down the invite when she had passed it on. He was supposed to be doing homework, but it looked a lot more like he was watching sports center. He hadn't heard from Annabeth since she had left for the party hours ago, but he knew that unless he got a random call within the next few hours she was fine. That was the way she worked at those parties. If she kept her phone out all the time she was going to do something stupid.

He must have fallen asleep because he was jolted awake by a knock on his door. Looking at the clock Percy could see that it was 2:30 in the morning. He got up and stumbled toward the door probably looking like he was hammered. He didn't really know who he was going to find at the door. He had a suspicion of who it might have been, but she had never shown up at the door before and he saw no reason that would change then.

Opening the door he saw that it had changed. There stood Annabeth in all her drunken glory. Going from looks she looked pretty well together and sober. It was the way that she was standing that gave her away. She was leaning against the wall because she could support her weight and she seemed like she was sluggish in all of her movements. Percy reached out and grabbed her arm to pull her into the house.

"Wait!" Annabeth yelled him. "I have something to say and I am going to say it right now!"

"Annabeth," Percy said looking around to see if she had woken anyone up, "calm down it's really early in the morning and everyone else is sleeping. I'll listen to what you have to say but I need you to bring it down a level.

"I don't want to bring it down a level," Annabeth said crossing her arms. "I want to be able to say whatever I want however I want. "

"Ya well that's not life. Come inside and you can say whatever you want." Percy had dealt with Annabeth drunk more times than he can probable remember, but he could definitely say that he hadn't dealt with her when she was like this. Normally she was calm and peaceful while she was drunk.

Percy finally got her in the door and stopped to look at her expecting her to start yelling again, but she didn't. "I have something to say," she said looking up at him.

"Alright," he said, "go for it."

"There's a reason that I haven't been dating, and before you ask what it is let me get this out," Annabeth said in a rushed slurred. "I can't date because every time I do I think of you. When whoever it is does something that irritates me I think of how you wouldn't do that to me, and it kills me. I just keep thinking about you all the time and it makes me so sad. I try to date other people because I keep thinking that they are going to compare to you and then they don't and I get my heart broken. It's not fair. I want you and you don't want me. Think about that for a minute," she said with a smirk. It was as if she had no idea that she had just admitted all of her feelings.

"Annabeth you aren't thinking straight. I think that you should go to bed and we can talk in the morning," Percy said trying to move away from her. He had wanted to hear her say that for as long as he could remember, but it just didn't feel right to hear that when she was hammered. For all he knew she could be delusional.

"No, I'm thinking totally straight. I'm gonna tell you a secret," Annabeth said with a smirk. He had seen that look before and he knew, "I didn't drink tonight, not one sip, but I didn't want to tell you that sober. If I pretended that I was drunk and you didn't take in well I was going to say that I didn't remember anything that happened tonight," she said looking down. She wasn't proud of what she had done, but she thought that she was pretty clever. It was a fool proof plan.

"Annabeth, that's a pretty serious statement," he said looking at her. They had been best friends for years, and what she was imply could ruin that in a matter of weeks. He wasn't sure that he wanted to take the chance of ruining that. Percy wasn't sure if he would be able to handle losing her.

"I know it is, but I think what we have both been thinking about it for a while. Percy we need to give this a chance. What if we don't and we regret it later? We are never going to know if we don't try."

"Annabeth, think about what we could lose. I don't think I could handle losing you," Percy tried to plead with her. It felt weird for him to be playing the devil's advocate in this situation. He had wanted this for so long, but he didn't think it was ever going to happen.

"Oh my god Percy," Annabeth said rolling her eyes. There was no way this was going to fly with her. That was when she made up her mind, and once Annabeth was on a plan there was no going back.

She looked at him for a minute before she followed through on her plan. Sitting there they were both just looking at each other. There wasn't a moment where they both came to a realization, or a time where everything clicked and they fell madly in love. None of that happened. They were real and life is real, but one real thing did happen. Annabeth leaned into kiss him and he didn't pull back. There wasn't a magical firework show or a moment of true love, but there was a moment of understanding. They were going to work every day to make sure that they had that moment and they were going to love each other.

Percy finally understood how Annabeth fell so in love so fast, and honestly they were both pretty sure they had The Marriage Syndrome from that day on.

 **So that's it! How did everyone like it? It was a lot longer than I originally intended it to be, but I'm not really complaining. Leave a review to tell me how you felt! Bye!**


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